wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Presbyterians help test for toxins around Peruvian

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8879 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05455
Sept. 1, 2005

Getting the lead out

Presbyterians help test for toxins around Peruvian metal smelter 

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - Four Ohio Presbyterians were among the international monitors on
hand last month as U.S. scientists began the first independent probe of
health and environmental conditions in one of Peru's filthiest mining towns.

	At the request of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Huancayo - and
coordinated by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Joining Hands Against Hunger
(JHAH), Peruvian Project - researchers from St. Louis University began taking
blood and urine samples from children who live in La Oroya, where the St.
Louis-based Doe Run Company operates one of the world's largest metal
smelters.

	The Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, OH, has been
working with JHAH in Peru since 2002.

	The samples will be analyzed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention; results are expected within three months.

	An earlier study by Peru's Health Ministry and Doe Run, headquartered
in Missouri, showed that 99.9 percent of La Oroya children aged 6 or younger
have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood, according to a Reuters
News Service article published on Aug. 16. That is two to four times higher
that what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers normal.

	Two of the research teams were attacked physically and verbally by
mobs opposed to further testing in this impoverished Andean town of 35,000
people., where the smelter, according to Reuters, churns out 792 tons of
sulfur dioxide a day, more than four times Peru's legal limit.

	La Oroya Deputy Mayor Clarisa Amanso told reporters that the
scientists were luring children into testing with cookies and cash. "If Doe
Run leaves here, the town will disappear because we live off of mining," she
said "These groups come to do studies with an anti-mining agenda. Here, the
majority of people support Doe Run."

	But callers to radio talk shows contradicted that opinion, according
to the U.S. monitors.

	Despite the protests, Patti Nussle, an Ohio pharmacist and corporate
lawyer who attends Broad Street church, guarded the scientific gear of
researchers from St. Louis University while they took blood and urine samples
from children whose parents consented.

	"This is what we came here for," she said after returning to
Columbus. "We knew before we came there would be a possibility of violence.
But we thought, 'There are lots of us here. The police are around. No one is
going to get really hurt.'"

	Nussle's said her team had little trouble in La Oroya.

	University researchers and Peruvian assistants gathered random
samples from the town's children, knocking on doors and seeking permission to
test. Scientists used written questionnaires and gathered urine and blood
samples as well as soil and river water samples to test for pollutants.

	"Some of the people said, 'Just go away. Get off this street,'"
Nussle said. "They were afraid that people would see us at their doorstep. So
we'd just keep going, and go to another house."

	Despite the protesters, the Rev. Hunter Farrell - JHAH's Peruvian
coordinator and a PC(USA) mission worker - said some mothers were anxious to
have their children tested. "We got a lot more samples than anticipated," he
said, noting that several teams were pelted with eggs, stones and spit as
they walked from house to house.

	"There was a major campaign to discourage people from coming out, and
intimidation of the university teams requested by the archdiocese. People
were actually broadcasting on bullhorns, 'Stop them. They'll shut down the
plant. We'll lose our jobs,'" said Farrell, who helped the teams of
researchers and helpers, including 10 U.S. citizens.

	High levels of lead can cause diseases ranging from lung cancer to
paralysis. Tests are also being conducted for traces of arsenic, cadmium and
mercury, which also are toxic.

	Nussle, the pharmacist, conducted unofficial lead tests a few year
ago in one of La Oroya's clinics, using monitoring equipment borrowed from
the Ohio Health Department. "Once the mothers started seeing the numbers -
once they saw the numbers were high for the amount of lead in the childrens'
bodies - we couldn't handle the people who wanted testing. ... It was like a
little riot," she said.

	Doe Run issued a statement on Aug. 16, condemning the "alleged
attacks" on St. Louis University Environmental Health Study teams, and said
it respects the university's "interest in studying health-related issues in
La Oroya and surrounding communities." It said the corporation supports
"constructive dialogue and peaceful interaction" and condemns "violence in
all its forms."

	According to Christi Dixon, a public relations representative for Doe
Run in St. Louis, the corporation has spent $78 million on modernization
since 1997, and by 2006 will have spent $94 million in meeting government
environmental standards and millions more in community and social programs.

When Doe Run bought the Peruvian operation in 1997, it agreed to modernize
the plant and invest in equipment to meet government environmental standards
- and has completed eight of nine projects, Dixon said.

The largest single investment - of $100 million in a sulfuric acid plant -
was scheduled for completion by 2007, but the company is seeking a delay
until 2010. The plant would reduce smokestack toxins by converting sulfur
dioxide into sulfuric acid, which then is sold to fertilizer manufacturers
rather than released into the atmosphere.

	The St. Louis-based Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy has worked with
JHAH in Peru, having experience with toxic emissions in previous work at Doe
Run's Herculaneum plant, which is inside the presbytery's boundaries.

	The company was required to clean up lead contamination there and pay
to relocate families who opted to leave polluted areas. Dixon said the
property purchase plan is almost complete.

 -Two presbytery members testified before the Peruvian Congress about Doe
Run's operations in Herculaneum and the remediation that the government
required.

-Farrell said the church's role in the La Oroya testing has been pivotal. He
said the testing done in August was comprehensive. While previous studies
have looked at lead poisoning, he said, this study will identify 15 toxins in
all.

	Other members of the Broad Street church who went to La Oroya are
Lindsay Helge, Tom Stafa and Shana Vernon.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org